வங்கிக்குள் சோமாலிய முஸ்லீம் தீவிரவாதிகள் குண்டு எறிந்ததில் 1 குழந்தை பலி

ஒரு வங்கிக்குள் சோமாலியா முஸ்லீம் தீவிரவாதிகள் குண்டு எறிந்ததில் ஒரு குழ்நதை பலியானது.

Grenade attack kills child in Somalia's Baidoa
17 Jun 2007 18:15:03 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Guled Mohamed
MOGADISHU, June 17 (Reuters) - A suspected Islamist insurgent tossed a hand grenade into a government-run bank in Somalia's south central town of Baidoa, killing a child outside, residents said on Sunday.

It was the latest in a wave of violence since a peace conference was postponed last week for a second time, and the second attack in three days on the government's former base.

"A child passing nearby was killed by shrapnel from the blast. Two guards and a bank worker inside were injured," said Mohamed Abdi, a night watchman at a hotel across the street.

"There are so many al Qaeda members in Baidoa now."

Tensions have soared in the town since four people were killed late on Thursday when suspected rebels threw a grenade into a crowd watching a foreign film.

Baidoa has been more peaceful than the seaside capital Mogadishu, where frequent insurgent attacks targeting government troops and their Ethiopian military allies are blamed on an ousted Islamist group.

Abdi said there were no police on the scene late on Saturday to chase the attacker, who fled. Most of the government's security forces had been transferred to Mogadishu.

Later on Sunday, the authorities imposed a 9pm-5am curfew on Baidoa and said it would last a week.

"Anybody seen walking after 9pm will be arrested on sight," regional police commander Ibrahim Hashi Gaabow told Reuters by telephone.

WEAPONS HAUL

Mogadishu has also seen a wave of violence since the reconciliation conference was postponed on Thursday.

Gunmen staged simultaneous strikes on three Ethiopian army positions, assassins shot dead a local official and two roadside bombs killed two children and maimed civilians.

Ethiopia sent troops into Somalia to shore up the fragile interim government against the threat from the Islamists who ruled much of the south for six months last year.

On Sunday, the government said it had seized a large number of armaments from the home of an influential politician and former warlord, Osman Ali Atto.

"Seven tonnes of weapons were found," government spokesman Abdi Haji Gobdon said, adding the administration was considering legal action.

Reached by telephone in Baidoa, Atto told Reuters that in addition to the weaponry, Ethiopian troops who carried out the raid broke into his private rooms and stole nearly $400,000.

"I am a lawmaker," he said. "They cannot search my house without a warrant. I will present my complaint to parliament." Gobdon said Atto's allegations were unfounded.

Atto is one of the survivors of Somali politics.

He cooperated with, and later opposed, U.S. involvement in a failed U.N. peace bid after Somalia collapsed into anarchy in 1991. The opening of Hollywood film "Black Hawk Down" depicts his capture by U.S. Army Rangers in September 1993. (Additional reporting by Ibrahim Mohamed and Hassan Yare in Baidoa)